So... How about that Marauder, guys?

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Starship Troopers (1997, 2004) [movie series]

When you battle 6 trillion enemies that will eat you alive, there are only two rules... EVERYONE FIGHTS. NO ONE QUITS.
| I guide

Long story short: Federation is still at war with the Bugs, in a situation approaching the trench warfare of the First World War. A high-ranking, popular government official with highly sensitive information was on a ship that went down over a planet bug-infested planet. Conspiracies abound as the Federation turns darker. And we finally get to see those power armors in action.

Sounds great, right? Well, not exactly... There were things that worked, some things that didn't work quite as well, and other things that were just facepalm-worthy.

Let's start with the bad: Acting is... not so great, to say the least. Casper Van Dien (you, poor man; what have you been reduced to?) returns as Colonel Rico, and the parts involving him tend to be the best parts of the movie, but I really can't see him as a high-ranking, awe-inspiring, charismatic officer. He's grunt material. The whole trench warfare thing was most likely born out of budget. Doesn't change the fact that it makes no sense. The worst part of the movie would probably have to be the middle act. Basically: There are people stranded on a Bug-infested planet philosophizing about religion and wandering around. This is tedious as all hell to watch. Occasionally it cuts to shenanigans going down in the darker and edgier Federation, but those moments are too brief, and soon, we are transported back to the horrible, horrible wandering fauxlosophers.

The good: The parts intended to be satire. I enjoyed the whole propaganda campaign about supporting the war through merchandising combined with ridiculous propaganda songs thanks to a singin', dancin', all-around charming Führer (that song's damn catchy too!) and the whole politics-meets-religion angle. (Did you know that God is a citizen of the Federation? No, really. I am not making this up.) It was also nice to see the darker side of the Federation, with its internal power struggles, media manipulation, merciless executions, and political persecution. As with the first movie, whatever scene involving the Federation Network media is always pretty amusing. There's some brief gratuitous nudity, which is always fun. There's also some nice action scenes, as well. Despite how stupid the concept was, watching redshirts fight giant bugs (OF DEATH!) in trenches is pretty damn entertaining.

You'll notice that I have made no mentions of the power armors. That's because... Well, they're not the central piece of the story. Despite the movie being called Marauder, the Marauder power armors only make a brief appearance (most likely due to budget constraints), and they look kind of like Dreadnoughts from Warhammer 40,000. They do, however, have the ability to "bounce" like the novel's power armors, and they seem to be deployed in a similar manner (which is a nice touch, considering how far the "Starship Troopers" movies have strayed from the source material at this point). They also get less than 10 minutes of screen time. On the other hand, they do kick ass, and there's quite a bit of irony in the moment that they show up (a parody of Deus ex machina).

As an added bonus, there's also a scene that resembles a Dr. Strangelove reference near the end, at least that's what it looked like to me, when the secret Doomsday bomb is deployed. The Federation finally gets its tech to the level that it was at in the novel by the end of this movie. What does this mean for the future? Don't ask me. I just don't want any more sequels, because, quite frankly, despite its good points, those moments were too brief to save this from being just another average sci-fi action movie with a really slow, tedious, horrible middle act and some really bad acting and unconvincing characters and situations.

5/10

P.S. With all that said, I still want to buy this if I ever see it in a bargain bin. Some bits are fun enough to justify a non-full price purchase, provided that the non-full price price is insanely cheap.